Of Spectres and Heroes (and Curiosity)
by TheGethhaveacrushonme
Summary: Nihlus and Shepard met before the events of Mass Effect. And they had sex. That's it, that's the plot. I won't even pretend there's much of a story here. I was planning on tying this up with a chapter on what happens when they meet again on the Normandy, but it's not high on my priority list, so for now, this is complete.
1. Chapter 1

Jo's fingers drummed on the counter. She felt restless. Being in between assignments always did that to her. She'd been assigned to one of the best, nah, probably the best ship in the Alliance navy. The SSV Normandy. She'd always found it just a little bit too much to name all their ships after places of famous battles. Well, at least they wouldn't run out of names for a long time. Her mind wandered for a moment as she sipped her drink. At least she only had to wait another day. One more night at the bar. The music was lousy, but they did have proper imported alcohol. Strong stuff, too. After months without a drop of alcohol – too busy, too respectable, no one to drink with, anyway – her tolerance had definitely gone down a notch, as she'd noticed on her first night off. She'd restricted herself to only one drink per evening after that. Just a small indulgence.

"Get away from me, you creep!"

Jo turned around to see a quarian woman rushing through the dancers, followed by a turian guy. He grabbed her and she tried to pull away, but he was too strong for her. The dancers parted around them, stared, but didn't do a thing.

Jo jumped up and strode over.

"Let go of her."

It distracted the guy enough for her to wind out his grasp, rubbing her arm.

"Is that turian harassing you?"

"She owes me money!"

"I do not! He's been following me for days now!" It wasn't easy to tell through the voice output of her helmet, but to Jo, she sounded close to tears.

"Have you any evidence for your claim?" she asked the turian.

"No, but... Who are you, anyway? Stay out of my business, human."

"Please, I just need to wait here for my friend, would you wait with me?" the quarian asked urgently.

"Of course I will."

"Get lost, human!"

The turian pushed her and Jo, in a reflex born out of years of training, threw a punch.

"What is going on here?"

Another turian. Great, Jo thought, then chastised herself for the thought. Not all turians bad, just the assholes, she told herself firmly.

"That human punched me, and the quarian stole from me!"

"Is that so?" There was something about the newcomer that instantly inspired, well, not exactly awe, but definitely a certain level of respect.

"This guy has been harrassing her, I tried to help. A moment ago, his story wasn't that she'd stolen from him, he told me she owed him money. And he pushed me." She grimaced at that last sentence. It sounded whiny.

"I want your names."

"Are you C-Sec? Otherwise I'm not..." the turian started, but the other interrupted him.

"I'm a Spectre and I usually don't involve myself in petty affairs like that, but you've crossed me on my day off. So. Names?"

"Vala'Tares nar Idenna," the quarian said with a quiver in her voice.

"Aertus Keet," the turian muttered.

Jo opened her mouth, but the spectre cut her off.

"I know who you are. Shepard. Hero of the Skyllian Blitz."

She gave him a scrutinising look, but didn't comment.

That moment, another quarian rushed towards them.

"Vala! What's wro... oh no, not that bosh'tet again! Whatever he said that she did this time, she didn't! He's been stalking her for days! We have complained with C-Sec, but nobody cares about quarians on this station."

"Shepard, get me a C-Sec officer please. I think we're all going to have a word."

"Hey, I didn't do anything to the suitrat! I'm leaving!"

In an impressive move that was too fast for Jo to really follow, the spectre had locked the turian's arms behind his back and was holding him in place. Shepard nodded quickly at him, left the bar, and rushed towards the C-Sec office nearby. The words "bar-fight" and "spectre" worked wonders in combination.

"He'll have to keep away from you, miss, restraining order. Spectre authority. I don't think he will go against it, but if he does, drop my name to any officer who may be refusing to help. It's Nihlus Kryik."

"Thank you!" The quarian actually hugged him, and he patted her on her back awkwardly. Shepard bit back a grin.

"And you as well!"

Vala flung her arms around Jo, too, while the other quarian watched them stoically.

"Take care of yourselves, alright?" Jo said kindly.

"We will. Come, Vala."

Jo turned back to the bar, then cursed lowly.

"Problem?" Kryik asked.

"Ugh, no. It just seems that my unattended drink has vanished. Probably cleaned away, that did take a while..."

"Let me buy you another."

For a moment she wanted to protest, then wondered why exactly. She usually didn't let people buy her drinks, but then they often had certain motives. This was different. She sensed that Kryik was looking for an oeuvre to start a conversation, and she was curious how the turian spectre new who she was.

"Alright."

They sat down and ordered drinks.

"I must admit, for a moment there, I thought we'd all be in even more trouble when you came along."

"I noticed. I didn't expect you to tell me so frankly, though."

He smiled, or well, what counted as a smile with a turian. Bared pointy teeth that just had to stir a primeval human sense of self-preservation. In any case, it made the hair on her neck stand on end. He had extensive facial tattoos, white on dark brown hide, and bright green eyes. He was an impressive sight. A spectre to boot. She'd heard conflicting things about spectres and couldn't quite believe that he would have used his authority to help those quarians.

"I am not overly diplomatic, most of the time. Or know when to keep my big mouth shut at all. But I am glad you helped when you did."

She lifted her drink to him briefly, then wondered whether he was familiar with the gesture. But he requited it after a moment.

"So," she said after a slightly too long pause. "A spectre?"

"I have no doubt that we have a... mixed reputation."

She managed to look slightly abashed.

"It's just this thing about absolute power," she replied.

"It corrupts absolutely. I have heard that one from other humans before. It is a credit to your species that you try to balance power, mostly, even though it seems in the nature of your rulers to grapple for it."

Her eyes narrowed.

"You know human history?"

"Overviews. No more than other species'. Now I've made you wary."

"No. Just embarrassed by my own ignorance."

He looked at her in silence for a moment, then steered the subject away from his interest in other species' history.

"The point is, we do not have absolute power. We still answer to the council. There have been bad eggs among our ranks, but few. I know it is hard to trust in my word only, as so much of our work is classified, but our results speak vastly in favour of this arrangement. Pirates, slavers, they don't care about C-Sec regulations. If anyone really threatens them, they just hide out in the Terminus Systems. The Citadel may have its problems, but at least it is not Omega. Ah, never been there, have you? It's a lovely station. The level of corruption and lawlessness makes you want to plant a bomb and be done with it."

"You do make a strong point," Jo conceded with a smile. It was clear that he was passionate about it and really did believe in what he said. She hadn't made up her mind about the entire spectre business, but he at least appeared to be a commendable agent.

"How did you become a spectre?" she asked after another sip of her drink.

"Oh, I just stepped on enough toes in the turian military to completely ruin my career and someone thought this laudable trait deserved some mentoring," he said nonchalantly.

She laughed.

"I see." She rubbed her neck for a moment, then said quickly: "If I may ask, how do you know about me?"

"You are a war hero, after all. Josephine Shepard, the woman who single-handedly held out against hundreds of batarians on Elysium until the air strikes took care of them. Did I say something wrong?"

She'd grimaced involuntarily as he'd said her name.

"No, it's just that no one usually calls me Josephine. My parents sometimes did, when they were chastising me, half a lifetime ago. Since their death... Well, it's usually just Jo. Or Shepard."

He didn't inquire and she was thankful for it. She never talked about Mindoir. Not with friends, crew mates, lovers, or even Alliance therapists, who'd proven annoyingly persistent on the subject.

"Jo, then," he said after a moment. "Would you excuse me briefly?" He got up and made his way towards the facilities. She watched him until he was out of sight, and was startled when the bartender asked her if she wanted another drink.

"No thanks, I really shouldn't."

"Hot date you've got there, sweetie," the asari said appreciatively.

Jo's face turned as red as her hair.

"He's not... we're not..."

"Really? Goddess, I'd hit that. If I didn't have to work, I'd sure as hell make a move." She looked at Jo appraisingly, then smirked. "I got you all embarrassed. Sorry. What's wrong, you just shy or don't you do xeno?"

"I've never... I don't think I want to talk about this with a stranger."

"Hey, no strangers here, just friends who haven't met." She pointed at a sign above the bar that read those exact words. "It's a human saying, or so I've been told."

"We're a highly discordant species," Jo muttered.

The asari laughed.

"Tell me about it. Well, alright then. He's been here before, I may just get lucky and catch him at the end of my shift someday." With that she walked away, probably to bother her other customers, Jo thought with a scowl. A small part of her envied the asari their nonchalant approach to sex with other species, but their damn superiority irked her.

As Nihlus came back, though, she couldn't help wondering if she could be attracted to the turian. Damn asari. She knew there were humans who'd taken to aliens like fish to water, but except from once drunkenly kissing an asari on shore leave, she had never even considered it. And in any case, asari didn't look that alien. At least they had lips. The only thing definitely attractive about turians were their voices.

Alright, she had watched a couple of vids. But who didn't? It was natural to be curious. Most turian-human vids went far beyond her comfort zone, anyway. She blushed and forced herself to think of something else.

"So, are you on shore leave?" Nihlus asked once he'd sat down again.

"No, starting on a new ship day after the next. I hear she's been co-designed by turians."

"The SSV-Normandy?" he asked.

Jo nodded.

"Pride of the Alliance navy."

"You will be working under Captain Anderson then."

She frowned.

"You know him?"

"I have... heard a lot about him. He is a highly decorated man, although..."

"Although what?"

He shook his head.

"I'm sorry, it's classified."

Jo narrowed her eyes.

"That's a nasty move, and you know it."

She was glad, all of a sudden, for a reason to be angry at him. She got up.

"I should leave."

"Wait. Please." He got up, too, and put a hand to her arm. Claw. She didn't know what the appropriate term was. She glared at him. "I didn't mean to tease. I really can't tell you about it, it's just that I have heard conflicting things about him. He is held in high esteem by almost everyone who talks about him, but someone I... whose opinion I value very highly has told me quite a different story. Another spectre. I can't tell you more. But I didn't want to give you doubts about your new captain before you'd even started working under him."

She relaxed a little. They looked at one another. His claw was still resting on her arm. Firm, and very warm. Alright, she was intrigued.

"You wanna get out of here? The music is giving me a headache."

He looked taken aback for a brief moment, then gave a jerk of his head that she took as a yes.

She turned once more to the bar before they made their way out, and caught the eye of barkeeper, who smirked and winked at her.

Damn smug asari.


	2. Chapter 2

_I read a scientifically sound tumblr-post about how the dextro-levo thing doesn't make much sense, just to find out if it's safe to, uhm, ingest (if you're interested, just google "dextro won't kill you honey"). For the sake of this story, let's just argue that the entire thing is an overblown urban myth kind of thing._

_Also, this is smut._

* * *

Her thoughts raced as the music slowly faded away and was replaced by the hustle and bustle of the wards. Although it was late evening by the artificially maintained time schedule of the Citadel, market traffic was as busy as ever. They were both silent, and there was a tension between them that hadn't been there before. Just as they approached a rapid transit stand, Nihlus turned to her, his eyes piercing into her.

She ought to have said good night, taken a cab and headed to the small apartment the Alliance had provided for her brief intermission on the Citadel. Instead she boarded a cab with him and let him take her to Bachjret Ward, which was mainly civilian housing, a few vendors, as far as she could tell. He didn't look at her, but she watched him, noticed his mandibles flaring from time to time, wondering whether it was a sign of nervousness or something else. After a few minutes, his claw tentatively brushed against her right leg and she inched a little closer. The cab stopped, he paid the driver, then he lead her to one of those impossibly tall buildings, opened the door and they boarded an elevator. He took a step towards her, pushed her slowly against the wall and pressed his body into hers. Her fingers went to his neck, could finally touch that rough, warm hide, so much hotter than human skin. His face was pressed against her neck and he muttered: "Are you sure about this?"

She laughed and the deep, throaty sound made him move even closer to her.

"Now you ask?"

"Not an answer," he growled and ran his talons down her side, then up her stomach, over her breasts.

"You've got experience with this, haven't you?" she muttered, arching her back slightly.

"Human women, you mean? Yes. A little. Enough to get things mostly right." He smirked a little. "You haven't done this kind of thing before, though, have you?"

"I'm a fast learner. And I like a challenge. So yes. I'm sure about this," Jo said, trying to convince herself, too. The sudden jolt between her legs as he'd touched her had at least made her feel more confident about this.

The elevator stopped, finally, and he opened an apartment at the far end of the landing.

"This is a nice place!" she exclaimed, as she looked around. "You know, considering it's not on a ship."

There was something off about the furniture, but she tried to ignore the voice inside her head muttering 'alien' all the time.

He watched her as she looked around, gave some of the things quizzical looks, peeked at the few fotos and cast a mock sad look at a dead plant. Then she turned to him.

"Bedroom?" she asked, and he thought the casual tone hid a modicum of nervousness.

"This way."

She looked up at him once they stood in the bedroom and he was very, very close once more. She was a tall woman, looking up at someone was odd. His claws ran through her hair and she couldn't help thinking 'damn, no lips!' It made her giggle quite unlike herself. Nerves, she thought.

"What is it?" he asked.

"Nothing," she said and stood on tiptoe, settled for tracing kisses along his jaw, his mandibles, licked at his throat, oddly metallic taste, unfamiliar, but intriguing. He pulled her head up to him and, as if sensing what she'd been thinking, flicked his tongue over her lips. She opened them, met his tongue with hers, wondered what its rough texture might feel like in other places. The claw that wasn't in her hair wandered down her back and grabbed her ass possessively. They broke apart after a while, and she felt that she had to ask, though she was reluctant:

"Is this... uhm... safe?"

Nihlus nodded.

"It is. Those rumours just won't die down, but the dextro-levo dichotomy has been proven countless times not to affect any species' health."

"Good," she said with a smile. "I'm glad." Watched as his talons slowly, carefully opened her shirt button after button. If she'd known how this night would turn out, she might have dressed up a little. She was glad she hadn't. This was hot. His talons didn't look like they could handle the small buttons at all, but they were suprisingly deft, brushing against her exposed skin all the time, teasing her. She wasn't wearing anything underneath, the thick flannel had been enough to make her feel fully dressed as she'd left for the night. He pushed her shirt back over her shoulders, then bent down and let his tongue rasp over her neck, down to her breasts, licked her nipples one after the other, making her gasp and squirm and, impatient as she was, sneak her hands down and open her trousers quickly. Shimmied out of them as he watched her with a smirk.

"C'mon, you too," she muttered and tugged at his shirt. He helped her take it off, pushed down his trousers gracelessly, groaned as she touched him with little hesitation, coaxed him to full hardness, studied him with a frank curiosity that made him smile.

"This is much more practical than, uhm, human male anatomy," she exclaimed, then blushed. "I mean, it's only out when you need it..."

He chuckled, then took her hand – so many small fingers! - and pulled her over to the bed.

Jo lay on her side, hand slowly moving up and down Nihlus' cock, wondering with a hint of trepidation if she'd be able to take it. She really wanted to, but one of his talons alone was filling her up pretty well. God, it had been ages...

He watched her face closely as his talons rubbed over the damp, hot folds between her legs, parted them gently and pushed one talon slowly into the slick opening concealed beneath. She was tighter than the human he'd bedded before, or, similar in built, any asari, for that matter. The wetness told him she was ready and she was rocking her hips back and forward as he moved in and out of her, taking him in deeper with each movement, but he worried about hurting her. The look that suddenly came over her beautifully flushed face as she watched herself fondle him told him she was thinking the same.

"Hey," he said softly and she looked up, smiled, opened her lips as he leant towards her, let his tongue explore her mouth thoroughly. She clenched down upon his talon and gave a soft moan, then pulled back slowly but determinedly, and beckoned for him to move atop her.

"You know, we don't have to..."

"Hush!" she said and reached between his legs, positioned him at her entrance. He pushed forward almost involuntarily, breached her defenses slowly, watching her every change in expression.

"I'm hurting you."

"Just give me a moment."

She willed herself to relax, but it hurt more than she'd anticipated.

"Dammit," she hissed and he pulled out as gently as he could.

"Hey, it's alright," he muttered and stroked her stomach, her sides, wondering at the sense of defeat coming from her.

"Yeah, but I wanted to do this," she said with the slightest hint of petulance.

"Those batarians never stood a chance during the Blitz, did they?" he said with a smile.

"How can you bring up batarians now what the fuck?" she yelled, but broke into laughter as he did the same. "Not conducive to this, Mr Kryik," she added eventually.

He chuckled.

"No, I guess not. All those eyes."

He lay down at her side, talons tracing in concentric circles over her breasts, teasing her nipples to hardness again and again with a keen sense of fascination.

"So Nihlus, what's the strangest thing about the human body?"

"The hair," he answered immediately. "Don't get me wrong, it's fascinating, oddly beautiful sometimes, but so very alien." He trailed his talons down her body, ran them through the triangle of red curls above her sex. "Yours is an astonishing colour. It's usually dark, isn't it?"

"Yeah," she muttered, spreading her legs a little. He got the hint and let his talons slip down there again, stroked her gently.

"Does it still hurt?"

"Little bit. Don't stop."

He moved closer, nuzzled her breasts, licked them, wondering. There was this thing asari usually liked, but he hadn't done it with that one human before Jo, and didn't know if it was something humans did. He pushed himself up with the one free arm and let his tongue slide into her mouth again, growling lowly at the suction she could so easily apply. After a moment he moved his mouth to the side of her face, licked at her ear, then asked tentatively: "Would it be alright if I licked you... here?" He circled her entrance slowly with the tip of a talon.

"God, I hope it'll be more than just alright..." she replied, a hitch in her voice.

He pushed her legs apart, his claws below her, lifting her slightly off the bed. He studied her pink, raw-looking sex for a moment, then bent his head down and licked her tentatively. The taste was an unfamiliar, but compelling mix of sweet and salty. He felt her shiver and her fingers touched the back of his head, below the fringe, stroked him gently, while her hips moved toward him. He smiled and applied more pressure, licked up and down between her folds, then pushed his tongue into her. She moaned, pressed his face further against her, rocked below him.

His tongue felt rough inside her, but in a great way. Deep, too, rasping against her inner walls, drawing louder moans by the second. She felt herself slip fast, and didn't fight it, cried out sharply as she came, clenching hard around the firm muscle penetrating her.

"That was..." She tried to catch her breath. His head leant against her left thigh and he looked at her with a very satisfied smirk. She laughed softly, breathlessly. "Let me return the favour."

She pulled him up to her, then made him lie on his back, moved atop him, let her fingers trace his tattoos for a while, kissed the diamond-shaped pattern on his forehead. Kissed his throat, sucked gently on the sensitive place above his collar, let her hands move over his body, then slipped lower, caressed his cock, started trailing kisses along its length.

It was the strangest sensation and for a moment he wasn't sure he was comfortable as she took him into her mouth. It was nothing turians could do with one another, and though asari sometimes offered, he'd always declined. But it felt right with her, somehow. Pretty good, actually, once he got used to it. His claws tangled in her hair as she took him in as far as she could, sucked on him, while her hands stroked the rest of his length. He growled deeply as her mouth moved up and down on him, tongue swirling around his tip, then licking down in broad strokes.

"I... I'm..."

He buckled, vaguely tried to pull out, but she held him in place, let him come into her, swallowed with just a bit of a cough. Nihlus lay there for a moment, completely spent, then reached for her blindly and she fell against him. He opened his eyes and was struck by the happy, accomplished look she gave him. He moved forward and let his tongue slip into her mouth again, tasting himself on her tongue, claws stroking her shoulders, back, ass, every place he could reach.

For a while after they just lay there, caressing each other languidly.

"What's the strangest thing about the turian body?" he asked her at some point.

She gave it a moment's consideration.

"Mandibles," she said eventually.

"Really?"

"Yeah, but kind of... intriguing. I wanna stroke them." She let her fingers do just that and he shuddered. "And find out what all those little movements mean. Although this here..." Her hand reached down and her fingertips circled his opening, and she watched him unsheath again. "This is very, very fascinating, too. Look who's coming out to play again!"

He growled softly, closed his eyes for a moment, until he felt a strange sensation as her head turned below his hand, and her tongue flicked over one of his talons. He stared, then pressed the tip against her lips, rubbed over them slowly, watched them part and slipped inside experimentally. She let her tongue swirl suggestively around his talon, and he carefully explored her mouth, those blunt little teeth, the warm, slick walls, soft, squirming tongue. He grew hard in her hand once more, but pulled away after a moment.

"Hey!"

"Hush. Let me try something... Trust me?"

She gave him a curious look.

"Alright."

He took hold of her hips, then turned her over gently, scanning for signs of discomfort, but she seemed keen and quick on the uptake as she got up on all fours. His talons reached under her, stroked her breasts, belly, went between her legs again as he bent over her, licked her neck and down her spine. She was still wet and pushed down eagerly on the talon probing at her entrance. He kept his arm still, despite the desire to fuck her hard, let her set her own pace and depth, watched with baited breath as she rode his talon. She seemed more open than before, but he wouldn't try taking her again unless she asked. There were other ways, as they had demonstrated before. After several minutes, he pulled his talon out and moved in closer, pressed his hips against her ass and let his cock rub between her slick folds, without trying to enter her. She gave a small, understanding "Oh" and shifted on her knees, pressed her legs together. He gripped her hips and moved in and out of the slick tunnel at the apex of her thighs with slow, but forceful thrusts. She moved back against him, gasped in time with his growls. He came much faster than he'd anticipated, half collapsed on top of her.

"Oof!"

"Sorry!" he said with a grimace.

Jo chuckled.

"'s alright."

She sat up and turned to him, cupped his face in her hands and smiled a smile that made him falter for a moment, made him want to tell her. Spirits, he hadn't anticipated this when he'd seen her at the bar. He'd just wanted to observe her for a while. Purely professional interest. He should just have walked away after he'd dealt with that stalker.

"What's wrong?" Her fingers moved along his fringe and he smiled, catching himself.

"Show me how you like to be touched," he said softly. Her eyes widened briefly, then she raised her eyebrows with a smirk.

"I thought you'd figured that out pretty well before."

"Indulge me."

She wanted to protest. She usually didn't put on a show for a lover. Made her feel silly, embarrassed, and too vulnerable. But somehow doing it for him was different. Exciting. She sensed that he really wanted to know how to get her off and that even though he'd proved that he had quite a good grasp of how the human body worked in these respects, there were things he didn't seem to know. Things she wanted to show him.

"Very well," Jo said and lay back. She closed her eyes, put her right hand onto her stomach, felt the soft skin, the slight ripple of muscle beneath, moved her hand up slowly, rested it on her right breast, felt the nipple harden against her palm.

Nihlus observed a gentle smile spreading on Jo's lips as her delicate hand caressed herself so very lightly. She squirmed against the bed sheet and he wanted to touch her badly. Restraint grew even harder when her fingers ran through the hair above her sex, pulled at it gently, then slid just a little lower. He watched in surprise as she rubbed her fingertips over the same spot a few inches above her opening over and over, slipping deeper occasionally, but moved up again after just a moment, alternated between circling and rubbing up and down, moved her hips slowly in time with her movements, breathing heavily. Then she stopped suddenly, and he realised that she'd opened her eyes and was looking at him. Her hand reached out for his claw and he let her guide him.

"Touch me here. It's a... sensitive spot..."

There was a small nub there he hadn't paid attention to before. He must have touched it, but not consciously. He mimicked her movements, gentle circles and strokes and felt her tremble under his touch. She whimpered, then grabbed his other claw and brought it between her legs, too, pressed one of his talons against her sex with shaking fingers. He slid inside, keeping up the movements of his other claw, tried a little more pressure, rubbed her faster as her hips moved against him frantically. She cried out and clenched down on him, grabbed the bedsheet as her body arched, then dropped back, breathing in deeply.

"That was incredibly beautiful," he whispered into her ear, as he spread out at her side and pulled her into his arms.


End file.
